The Tamesis
With the radical democratization of the fashion world, mood boards are no longer something that’s kept under lock and key—and subtle references are no longer something only your most cultured friends can spot and tout at dinner parties. “Digital media provides unprecedented access and documentation of designers’ creative processes, and I think the public would love to see these connections,” says art historian Amelia Marran-Baden (aka @Meelzonart) Fashion. “Fashion is no longer about a garment, it’s about world-building. People like to share a designer’s creative process. Perhaps, designers and brands are responding to this interest and inviting us accordingly.”
This world-building continues off the runway, too. (A show is only 15 minutes long, and before the next one, there are roughly 130,000-plus minutes of content occupying the Internet’s attention.) For Dior’s Jonathan Anderson, cinematic immortality was a perfect answer, especially given the designer’s previous sartorial projects with director Luca Guadagnino. challenger and strangeness. Last week, the French brand took to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) new David Geffen Galleries to once again express its love for Hollywood. A white bar jacket references the design of Marlene Dietrich, who once declared on the set of Alfred Hitchcock stage fright, “Without Dior, there would be no Dietrich!”
Anderson also collaborated with American pop artist Ed Ruscha, whose shadows and distorted lettering adorn a series of button-down shirts. Beyond the films, Anderson’s Dior was clearly art-centric from the start. “He hosted his first menswear show, two [Jean Simeon] Chardin’s still life paintings, basket of wild strawberries and a vase of flowers“, Marran-Baden points out. “His first haute couture collection was inspired by the work of ceramicist Dame Magdalene Odundo. He transformed the Basin Octagon Garden into what is essentially Monet’s water lily garden at Giverny. Like this year’s Costume Institute’s “The Art of Costume,” Anderson puts his penchant for clothing and fine art on equal footing, and at Dior, he says he will continue to do so. With culture as its currency, luxury fashion has never had such a vested interest in showing off its artistic achievements, and brands are going all out to capitalize on this America-centric holiday season.
